In a telecommunications system, wireline and wireless switches receive and route voice and non-voice data from one address on the telecommunications system to another address. A switch looks at incoming data to determine the destination address, and based on that address, a transmission path is set up by the switch to route data associated with a voice call or data transmission to an intended address. In wireless telecommunications systems, wireless switches contain data associated with wireless telephone users who may legitimately operate their wireless telephones in a given wireless telecommunications system via those switches. That is, in order for a wireless telephone to operate through a given wireless switch, that wireless switch must include data on the wireless telephone such as the wireless NPA-NXX data, identification information on the wireless telephone and roaming privileges information for the telephone if that wireless telephone is using the wireless switch as a roaming switch.
In order to populate a given wireline or wireless switch with required data to allow telephone users to operate through the switch, a data entry operator for the telecommunications system operating the switch must send data messages to the switch to provide the switch with the necessary data. For example, the NPA-NXX number of the telephone, identification information on the telephone, roaming privileges, and billing data must be populated on the switch so that the switch will recognize calls from the telephone and process those calls accordingly.
Each time a telephone is activated in a given telecommunications system, data, as described above, required for operating the telephone in the telecommunications system must be populated in each of the switches in the system. For wireless systems, if one telecommunications system arranges for its wireless users to have roaming privileges on a separate telecommunications system, the first system must send data on each of its wireless users to the second telecommunications system so that the data may be populated on the second telecommunications system's wireless switches to allow the wireless telephones of the first telecommunications system to operate via the switches of the second system.
Most switches require data to be entered according to specific message formats. A data entry operator of the telecommunications system connects directly to the switch, for example, via a well-known Telnet program that allows the data entry operator to connect to and sign on to the switch in order to enter required data. Unfortunately, many switches, such as those manufactured by Ericsson, Inc., require data entry on a command-line basis according to a specific format. Therefore, each time additions or changes need to be made to the data of such a switch, the data entry operator must connect to the switch and add data or edit data on a line by line basis according to the particular data format for the switch. This process becomes cumbersome, time consuming, and error producing when the data entry operator must add the data for hundreds of new subscribers or new wireless roaming arrangements on a daily basis.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.